Report: Anti-Semitic incidents on the rise in Massachusetts

Friday

The number of anti-Semitic incidents happening in Massachusetts is on the rise according to new numbers released by the Anti-Defamation League.

In 2017 alone, the ADL logged 177 anti-Semitic incidents across the Bay State. That number represented a 42 percent rise in Massachusetts since 2016, which saw 125 anti-Semitic incidents.

All of the anti-Semitic incidents reported by the ADL in Massachusetts in 2017 were either harassment or vandalism, with vandalism making up a majority of the incidents.

The ADL's 2017 audit shows that only three states, New York, California and New Jersey, had more anti-Semitic incidents than Massachusetts in 2017.

The anti-Semitic incidents in Massachusetts during 2017 are broken down by town in the ADL audit. One incident reported in the audit, in September 2017, happened in Weymouth.

"Swastikas drawn on the outside of a middle school over the Jewish new year," the audit reported about the Weymouth incident.

A similar incident was reported in March 2017 at a middle school in Milton and at Rockland High School in October of that year.

In April 2017, swastika graffiti was also found at a middle school in Norwell.

Events of harassment include an incident in Newton, in March of 2017, when someone called in a warning of an active shooter to a Jewish school.

Anti-Semitic hate crimes have come into new focus across America following the mass shooting that claimed 11 lives at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

Police said Robert Bowers was filled with hate on Oct. 27 when he walked into the Tree of Live Congregation and began shooting. It is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jewish people in American history.

After the massacre, Rabbi David Grossman, of B'nai Tikvah in Canton, spoke at a vigil with approximately 200 people and said local acts of hate are often not taken seriously by local authorities.

"We have seen the rise of anti-Semitic acts involving the schools in Stoughton and Canton, and the lack of responsiveness of school officials to these acts," Grossman said. "They are loathe to classify hate crimes as such, and try to treat these incidents as adolescents acting out or bullying."

According to the ADL, swastika vandalism was found in a Canton middle school in March of 2017.

A Stoughton boy was also victimized by harassment, according to the ADL.

"A Jewish middle school boy was the victim of anti-Semitic bullying after he was called 'a filthy jew' and told to 'go back to the concentration camp,'" the ADL audit said about the May 2017 incident in Stoughton.

“We must actively identify acts of evil," Grossman said the day after the Pittsburgh shooting. "Bind together, as we did last night, and continue to educate one another, especially our young people, that differences are to be celebrated, not castigated."

Grossman said after the Pittsburgh shooting, there are more questions than answers for many of the faithful.

"Congregants are expressing outrage about the violation of sacred space, carnage in a place set aside for peace, and the need to think about the unthinkable even while trying to commune with each other and God," he said.

The most recent hate-inspired incident making headlines in Massachusetts happened Nov. 1, when officers responded to an assault in progress in Cambridge.

Police said 62-year-old Jarrett Harris attacked a random 66-year-old woman after pushing her against a wall and choking her while yelling anti-Semitic slurs, according to WHDH.

Media reports said Harris was arrested by police and charged with assault and battery on a person over 60 and assault and battery to intimidate, which is considered a hate crime.